Even after almost 40 years of being steadily mainstreamed to the point that he can be performed by high school students on a network TV show, Frank N. Furter has lost none of his ability to frighten so-called normal people.

That’s what Russell Reed thinks, at least. Reed is the latest Amarillo actor to play the sweet transvestite in “The Rocky Horror Show,” an Amarillo Community Theatre production opening Friday at 12052 Event Center, 4901 S. Washington St.

“Frank is the archetype of everything we’re supposed to be afraid of and leery of and supposed to avoid,” Reed said.

“He’s the opposite of prudence, the opposite of safe. He represents abdication to your own self- gratification.”

Frank, the central character of the cult musical, kidnaps, terrorizes and ravishes a pair of unsuspecting travelers, Brad (Cliff McCormick) and Janet (played alternately by Jacki Brant and Jessie Sharpe), tempting them into what actress Crystal Zimmerman, who plays Frank’s reluctant assistant Magenta, calls “basically a cult that does drugs and orgies.”

The musical’s film version, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” garnered a worldwide cult following thanks to countless midnight screenings, at which audience participation became de rigueur, with crowds shouting back sarcastic responses at the screen and pelting each other with an assortment of props suggested by the characters’ actions and dialogue.

That kind of audience reaction is hoped for in the stage version, as well, in a party atmosphere that will be encouraged at most shows by a burlesque show opening act. The Bomb City Pretties will take the stage an hour before the 8 p.m. stagings of “Rocky,” and Oklahoma City troupe The Oh No! Variety Show and Amarillo’s Pickled Punk Sideshow will perform in an aftershow following Friday’s opening-night performance.

At the heart of the show, Reed and other actors said, is a celebration of the outsider, one reason the show is still celebrated today.

“I grew up on the margins, was kind of a loner,” Reed said.

“If I had not had that experience, I could not play Frank because Frank is an alien. He has goals, dreams and desires that are not understood by anyone else on the planet he inhabits.”